The G-20 has drawn thousands of visitors to Pittsburgh, but several hundred were drawn to Forbes and Shady avenues in Squirrel Hill yesterday with another thought: "Gee, doughnuts!"

A new Dunkin' Donuts shop was having a dry run in advance of its Tuesday opening, giving away free food and coffee as a training exercise for its staff. The word got out fast, and by 9 a.m. the line was out the door and around the corner.

Maybe there was an usually large number of takers because the Golden Triangle was in a virtual lockdown and people who normally would have been at work avoided the closed roads and check points.

While the convergence of world leaders, police and protesters was the big story of the day, life went on outside the security zone.

The Cold Stone Creamery at the corner of Forbes and Murray avenues in Squirrel Hill planned to participate last night in The World's Largest Ice Cream Social, a nationwide Cold Stone fundraiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The Jake Gyllenhaal-Anne Hathaway movie "Love and Other Drugs" continued production at a rented home in the East End. Less than a dozen people gathered to watch the film crew but the scenes were all being shot inside, out of view.

Ellie Feibus, 22, who lives in a carriage house nearby, has glimpsed Mr. Gyllenhaal and even got a wave from actor George Segal, who plays his father.

"Yesterday there was a whole group of cougars standing there waiting for Jake," Ms. Feibus said, referring to some of Mr. Gyllenhaal's older female fans. "It was cool but I'm over it."

Other people were forced to vary their normal routines. Muriel Alim of Wilkinsburg had four children on her hands because their school, Winchester Thurston in Shadyside, was closed during the summit. She took them to see "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" at the Penn Hills Cinema. That was just great as far as her son, Javier, was concerned. What better way to celebrate his sixth birthday?

And what better way to mark a 16th birthday than by scoring a learner's permit? That's what Matthew Clark of Forest Hills was doing when he and his mom, Terri Clark, exited the PennDOT Driver's License Center near the movie theater, him clutching the document in hands that twitched to grab the wheel.

"We only waited 10 minutes," said the grinning Matthew, a sophomore at Central Catholic High School, also closed due to the summit.

Inside the license center, only 18 people waited to be called to the window. The supervisor on duty said the seats are never that empty.

"We have 50 to 80 people at all times," she said. "This is rare. We don't know why it's happening."

At Monroeville Mall, Tim Milo worked behind the counter at Sunglass Hut, showing some eyewear to a potential customer. He said he doesn't follow politics very closely, but the G-20 had cleared the way for his girlfriend to drive from Churchill to her job in Robinson in 20 minutes. The trip usually takes twice that long.

"There was nobody on the roads," he said.

Mike Terrick of Munhall noticed the same thing as he headed toward Carnegie Mellon University to take his son, Michael to class. He'd left early, anticipating traffic and road blocks, but they passed only a handful of cars on the Homestead Grays Bridge and along Browns Hill Road. Then they hit Oakland, with concrete barriers blocking some campus streets and iron gates around Flagstaff Hill in Schenley Park.

"Pittsburghers are putting up with a lot if you ask me," Mr. Terrick said. "But I'm really impressed with the security and it will be worth it if everything goes well. It will be a very positive thing for Pittsburgh."

There were plenty of people at the Wal-Mart in North Versailles, where Michelle Smith and Laurie Burns of East McKeesport examined leaf lettuce at $1.68 per pound.

"The G-20 is exciting for Pittsburgh," said Ms. Burns. "Hopefully it will help our little city get out the word that it's really nicer here than people think."

In Cranberry, that hopefulness was echoed by James Peffer of Zelienople.

"We have a great convention center Downtown," he said. "This gives us a chance to show it off, and to bring a lot of people from around the world and show them Pittsburgh. It will be good for the economy."

Still, the inconveniences have been hard to ignore. Beverly Stilts, of Ellwood City, said her mother's elective surgery at UPMC Passavant was postponed until next week. The family was told the hospital wanted to be prepared for any rush of emergency patients resulting from major problems Downtown.

"It should have been like Woodstock," said Scott Litzinger, of New Sewickley Township. "They should have held the meetings out in the woods somewhere in the middle of nowhere."